Scripture Reference: Acts 4:23-31
3. There Is a Desire to Evangelize
Acts 4:29 is probably the most challenging verse in this Scripture. “Now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.” As these disciples praised God who had brought the release of Peter and John, the burden of their prayer did not become a plea that He would now keep them safe. They pleaded to the Lord that He would enable them to go on proclaiming the gospel with greater courage. They didn’t pray, “Lord, don’t let it happen again.” They prayed, “Lord . . . grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.” In a praying church, we want to make salvation known to sinners.
It is relatively easy for some of us to stand before a group and tell them that Jesus saves. It seems to be more difficult to speak to one person and witness to that person about Christ. Yet many souls are won to Christ, one-on-one, as we speak to our family, our neighbors, and our friends about Jesus.
An associate of Billy Graham writes, “I’m an evangelist, and I have been witnessing and sharing my faith since I was fourteen years old. I’ve preached to crowds of 60,000 people, and, yet, I still get nervous when talking to an individual about Christ.”
In a praying church there will be burdened hearts, burdened soulwinners, burdened sowers, and burdened reapers. Members will have a passion for souls and an earnest longing to make Christ known. The psalmist recorded the promise, “He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:6).
The great preacher Henry Ward Beecher once stated, “The longer I live, the more confidence I have in those sermons preached where one man is the congregation.” Mr. Beecher was talking about witnessing to the unsaved, seeking to win the lost to the Savior one individual at a time.
4. The Holy Spirit Manifests His Presence and Power
When the church prayed, the Holy Spirit manifested His presence and power. Luke records, “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). Prayer is the secret of every Pentecostal outpouring. We aren’t just now considering what happened on the Day of Pentecost. The account in Acts chapter 4 is something that happened on another occasion after Pentecost. We are not told that the disciples were meeting together to pray specifically that they might be filled with the Holy Spirit. What they did was to get on their knees and ask the Lord to help them to be obedient to His commission and to be pleasing to Him as they sought to make the Lord Jesus known in the quickest possible way and to the largest possible number of people with the greatest possible results. As they prayed, the place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. This can happen again and again.
There may never be another Day of Pentecost. But, there can and must be Pentecostal power and Pentecostal experiences in our lives and in the life of every church. We need the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We have no power, no anointing without that outpouring. Why are we so slow to realize the importance of prayer and prayer meetings and praying as a church?
The Holy Spirit will move in miraculous ways in our midst. If you and I begin to pray individually and as the body of Christ, we will see miracles in the spiritual realm. We will see physical miracles, yes, but the spiritual miracles are eternal. We will see people being saved. In Genesis 18:14 the question is asked, “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” When the church prays, God steps in and does great and mighty things (Acts 4:30).
To Be Continued
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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